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Especially now, Ryan Kubic and the Vancouver Giants are both pleased with their parting of the ways.

The Giants traded Kubic, their two-year starter in goal, two days before the start of the regular season to the Saskatoon Blades for a second-round pick in the 2019 WHL bantam draft.

That’s not your standard operating practice for a franchise desperate to get into the playoffs, but Vancouver’s brass felt 2016-17 backup David Tendeck was ready for the No. 1 duty, and second-round selections are hard to come by.

Tendeck has flourished. Going into Wednesday’s action, he was third in the league in goals-against (2.97) and sixth in save percentage (.909).

Kubic has found things to his liking, too. He now has a guaranteed spot in this spring’s Memorial Cup national championship tournament, after getting dealt to the host Regina Pats by the Blades on the WHL’s Jan. 10 deadline.

Saskatoon swapped Kubic, who’s in his 19-year-old season, and overage forward Cameron Hebig to Regina for overage goalie Tyler Brown, 17-year-old forward Bryan Lockner and four draft picks, including 2020 first- and second-rounders. That was one of six trades, bringing in eight new players, that Regina made from the start of the calendar year.

“My expectations haven’t changed,” said Kubic, a 2013 second-round bantam pick by the Giants out of the Winnipeg Hawks program. “I’ve always set a really high standard for myself.

“As a group, the expectations are definitely higher than they’ve been before. It’s not about development. It’s about winning right now.”

Much like Vancouver trading Kubic raised some eyebrows in the league, Regina bringing him in has done the same. He didn’t come close to playoff action in Vancouver, where he had fashioned a 3.53-goals-against average and a .895 save percentage to go with a 32-58-7-5 record. He had injury issues in Saskatoon, which played a role in his 3.96 goals-against, .871 save percentage and 8-11-1-0 record.

Regina general manager and coach John Paddock has repeatedly said that he thinks Kubic is better than what he’s gotten a chance to show.

As well, the Pats obviously coveted Hebig, who had 30 goals through 40 games in Saskatoon, and needed to open up one of their three, 20-year-old spots. They decided on Brown instead of either forwards Matt Bradley or Jesse Gabrielle.

“I try to treat every game the same way,” said Kubic, who was 4-3-1-0, with a 2.99 goals-against and a .919 save percentage through his first eight games with Regina. “When I was in the playoffs when I was younger, I learned that by playing the same team several times in a row you get to know a lot about them. That’s one of the biggest differences to me.

“In the end, I just have to try to stop as many pucks as I can. The stakes are obviously higher. You tend to get a lot more out of the all players. But you just have to try to play the same.”

Kubic, who celebrated his 20th birthday in early January, still has his sights set on playing pro, and being assured that he’ll be a part of one of the last four teams playing this spring will undoubtedly increase his profile.

“I’m really thankful for this opportunity,” he explained.

Kubic is third all-time in Giants history in games-played by a netminder with 109. He would have passed Payton Lee (140) if he had stayed as the starter this season and would have taken over top spot overall from Tyson Sexsmith (179) if he had the gig as a 20-year-old next year.

Vancouver’s brass felt Tendeck, 18, was ready for prime time, and liked the promise of both Todd Scott, 17, and Trent Miner, 16, and realized that Kubic would bring the most in trade. If they opted to keep him this season, they would have had to trade one of the younger netminders. They would have had a crowded crease again next fall, and if they moved Kubic then it likely would have been for a sixth- or an eighth-round pick, since 20-year-olds historically don’t garner much back in trade.

Kubic says he’s not surprised at how well Tendeck is performing to date.

“It’s just his mentality … the way he’s open to trying new things on the ice and listening to coaches,” Kubic said. “He just gets to work. He doesn’t make excuses when things don’t go his way. He goes out there and just plays.”

The Giants traded Scott to the Edmonton Oil Kings at the deadline as part of the deal to land forward Davis Koch.

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